Contents

Background

Germany fought in Samoa in defense of Tamasese, their choice for Tafa'ifa, the King of Samoa, after the reigning king Malietoa Laupepa was usurped and exiled. Tamasese and his German allies faced a rival faction, headed by popular Samoan chief Mata'afa Iosefo. Germany was looking to expand its new empire and its commercial interests. America, also looking to protect its commercial interests in Samoa, sent three warships—
USS Vandalia,
Trenton, and
Nipsic—to monitor the island. Britain also sent a ship to protect its interests,
HMS Calliope.

War

Tensions heightened with the
United States after a German shelling of Mata'afa's rebel villages also resulted in destruction of American owned property in 1887. One battle at Vailele in September 1888, following German bombardment of his rebel villages, resulted in Mata'afa's warriors destroying an invading German contingent and plundering their plantations.[3] Throughout the war, the German, American, and British ships were in a naval standoff known as the
Samoan crisis. The three western powers finally agreed that
Malietoa Laupepa would be restored as King of Samoa in 1889 after a cyclone destroyed both American and German warships at Apia harbour, halting hostilities between the powers.[4] However, the conflict on Samoa went on until 1894, when Laupepa became king again.

Second Samoan Civil War

Nine years later, with the death of Malietoa Laupepa, hostilities broke out again in 1898 in the
Second Samoan Civil War. However, this conflict was quickly ended by the partitioning of the island chain at the
Tripartite Convention of 1899.